While clearing things out, I came across an article from my first blog, LiFEcatcher.
Eight years ago, I wrote there about what makes competent women doubt themselves. And there are still many misconceptions about competence.
Back then, I kept running into this thought:
"If you're competent, you don't make mistakes. And if you don't make mistakes, you don't fail."
Or at least that failures wouldn't bother you then.
Today, I rarely talk about competence in my work. But it's there in the background when clients tell me that decisions should come easier if they were really good at what they do.
Competence is then seen as a trait. Something you either have or don't.
And as something that protects you from doubt.
This view is often helpful, as long as we stay within that logic.
We experience success, feel competent, and have no reason to doubt.
The problem is the reverse conclusion.
When we face a new question, start doubting, or just feel unsure, the idea quickly comes up that we're not competent or successful after all.
Logical, as long as we believe our feelings tell us the truth.
Germany's Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training describes competence roughly like this:
We act in a specific situation with the knowledge and skills we have.
What counts is the best solution we can find here and now.
So competence always depends on the situation.
It's not there because we've been successful for a long time.
And it's not gone when we don't know what to do next.
Decisions often get hard when our experience doesn't show a clear solution. We're up against something we haven't run into before.
Of course we feel unsure then.
But that says nothing about us as a person.
Only that we're dealing with something new and haven't found a way to handle it yet.
And there's something else that was already in that article:
Competence doesn't protect us from uncomfortable feelings.
Even the most experienced solopreneurs overthink, second-guess themselves, and get annoyed about mistakes.
It has nothing to do with their skill.